PledgeMusic acquires NoiseTrade and Set.fm

Direct-to-fan firm and pre-order campaign specialist PledgeMusic has acquired data-gathering platform NoiseTrade and instant live performance service Set.fm so that, says the company, its “model of enabling individual fans to directly support artists” will see “exponential growth across all levels of the creative community and consumer landscape”.

Pledge says that by bringing the three companies together, the business will be providing services to over 50,000 artists, with a user-base of over 3 million super-fans.

Confirming the buys, Pledge founder Benji Rogers says: “In bringing our three companies together under a single roof we are building a unique platform that adaptively supports the full lifecycle of recordings, tours and the constantly-changing forms of artistic output. It is our shared belief that PledgeMusic now offers musicians at all stages of their careers the most robust home to bring their visions to life and reach their commercial objectives. Revaluing music for fans equals revenue for artists and the ecosystem we’ve created makes me more optimistic than ever about the future business of making music”.

NoiseTrade founder Derek Webb added that the three businesses now combining were “cut from the same cloth”, and that “aligning our massive combined reach around one vision represents the start of something unprecedented”. Set.fm boss Matt Peterson, meanwhile, is “THRILLED” about the tie up, concluding that “the combined network-effect of the three services will uniquely empower artists to be successful at all stages of their creative process, while rewarding and engaging fans with the products and experiences they want most from the performers they love”.

The two acquisitions follow the recent news that US investment firm Magna Entertainment has pledged its support for Pledge by taking a “major position” in the company. Still not sure what Pledge was offering in return for that pledge, though a user-base of 50,000 artists and 3 million super-fans is a pretty good start. And I bet they got a dinner with Benji too, which is worth half the pledged amount at least.